Orthodox
Judaism

Orthodox Judaism holds that both Conservative and Reform Judaism
have made major and unjustifiable breaks with historic Judaism,
both by their skepticism of the verbal revelation of Written and
Oral Torah, and by Reform
Judaism's rejection of halakhic (Jewish legal) precedent as
binding. Its views Pluralism as a construct of the liberal
movements and does not see their ideology as rooted in historic
Jewish norms. Orthodox rabbis have ruled that Karaite Judaism
is much closer to Orthodoxy than the Conservative and Reform
movements, while maintaining that critical differences between
Orthodox Judaism and Karaism exist, Karaites are recognized as
Jews. While not recognizing Reform and Conservative as valid
expressions of Judaism, it still recognizes Jews affiliated with
these movements as Jews.

Haredi
views

When dealing with others of their own faith who have different
philosophies, Haredi Jews attempt to differentiate
between the individual practitioners and the
movement/philosophy.[1]

When dealing with the individual, Rabbi Moshe Feinstein
is famously quoted as characterizing all current-day non-Orthodox
Jews as Tinokot Shenishbu, literally "captured children,"
in a category analogous to Jewish children captured by non-Jews who
were never taught Judaism, meaning that they do not act out of
wrong intent or motives, but out of ignorance and poor upbringing
(Iggeroth Moshe) .

However, when dealing with the movement/philosophy, they
perceive the generation of other denominations to have historically
been engendered by heretical intent and the 1800s widespread
denigration of religion. They view Reform Judaism, Reconstructionist Judaism and
Conservative Judaism as heretical
non-Jewish movements. Some Haredi leaders have stated that Reform
is philosophically further from authentic Judaism than Christianity and Islam. As such, Haredi authorities
have strongly fought attempts by the Reform and Conservative
movements to gain official recognition and denominational
legitimacy in Israel. Haredi groups and authorities will not work
with non-Orthodox religious movements in any way, as they view this
as lending legitimacy to those movements. The members of those
movements who have been born of a Jewish mother are, however, still
regarded as Jews.[1]

The relationship between Haredi and Modern Orthodox Judaism is more
complex; most Haredi Jews see Modern Orthodox Jews as allies, but
they disagree with their accommodations of modernity, and view them
as lax in their observance.

Modern
Orthodox views

When dealing with other denominations who have different
philosophies, the Modern Orthodox
outlook is that differences have not been generated by heretical or
iniquitous intent, but by an attempt to reconcile Judaism with
modernity. Thus, although Modern Orthodox Jews find all
non-Orthodox forms of Judaism to be wrong, the non-Orthodox
movements are not considered to be inherent antagonists; rather
they are perceived to be competitors offering a faulty product, so
to speak.

In his 1954 responsum on relations with non-Orthodox
Judaism, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik developed
the intellectual foundations for the way Modern Orthodox Judaism
was to approach the issue in subsequent decades. Rabbi Soloveitchik
developed the idea that Jews have historically been linked together
by two distinct covenants. One is the brit yi'ud, "covenant of
destiny", which is the covenant by which Jews are bound together
through their adherence to halakha. The second is the brit goral,
"covenant of fate", the desire and willingness to be part of a
people chosen by God to live a sacred mission in the world, and the
fact that all those who live in this covenant share the same fate
of persecution and oppression, even if they do not live by halakha.
Soloveitchik held that non-Orthodox Jews were in violation of the
covenant of destiny, yet they are still bound together with
Orthodox Jews in the covenant of fate. This approach permitted
cooperation in matters effecting the covenant of fate while
recognizing differences, and limits, based on the covenant of
destiny.

Following this lead, until the 1970s the Modern Orthodox and the
non-Orthodox movements worked together in the now-defunct Synagogue Council of
America. However, the relationship between Modern Orthodoxy and
the non-Orthodox movements has worsened over the last few decades.
The movements have seen a polarization of views. Haredi Judaism has
seen a great resurgence in its popularity, and many formerly Modern
Orthodox rabbis have been swayed to some degree by their views. As
well, non-Orthodox movements have progressively moved to the
"left". Starkly so, Reform Judaism rejected the traditional
definition of a Jew via matrilineal
descent, effectively severing the united peoplehood that had
linked Reform and non-Reform movements. For practically all
Orthodox Jews (and many Conservative Jews) this was seen as
splitting the Jewish people into two mutually incompatible groups.
The confluence of these two phenomena helped drive most of Modern
Orthodoxy further to the right, and effectively ended all official
cooperation between Modern Orthodoxy and all of the non-Orthodox
denominations.

Some within the Orthodox world advocate that while non-Orthodox
forms of Judaism are incorrect, they nonetheless have functional
validity and spiritual dignity. Rabbi Norman Lamm writes:

...Reform, Conservative and Reconstructionist communities are
not only more numerous in their official memberships than the
Orthodox community, but they are also vital, powerful and dynamic;
they are committed to Jewish survival, each according to its own
lights; they are a part of Klal Yisrael; and they consider
their rabbis their leaders. From a functional point of
view, therefore, non-Orthodox rabbis are valid leaders of
Jewish religious communities, and it is both fatuous and
self-defeating not to acknowledge this openly and draw the
necessary consequences--for example, establishing friendly and
harmonious and respectful relationships and working together, all
of us, towards those Jewish communal and global goals that we share
and that unite us inextricably and indissolubly....

...non-Orthodox rabbis and laypeople may possess spiritual
dignity. If they are sincere, if they believe in God, if they
are motivated by principle and not by convenience or trendiness, if
they endeavor to carry out the consequences of their faith in a
consistent manner--then they are religious people.... But
neither functional validity nor spiritual dignity
are identical with Jewish legitimacy. "Validity" derives
from the Latin validus, strong. It is a factual,
descriptive term. "Legitimacy" derives from the Latin lex,
law. It is a normative and evaluative term.[1]

A number of modern Orthodox rabbis advocate good relations with
their non-Orthodox peers. In 1982 Tradition: A Journal of
Orthodox Jewish Thought published a symposium on the state of
Orthodox Judaism, with contributions by many leading Orthodox
rabbis. The first question the editor asked the rabbis was "Do you
believe that recent developments warrant the triumphalism exhibited
by segments of Orthodoxy which predict the total disappearance of
non-Orthodox movements?" Rabbi Marc D. Angel replied that "we
should be frightened by the possibility. With all our theological
differences, yet we part of one Jewish people and work together in
so many ways for the benefit of the Jewish community....It is not a
happy prospect that the overwhelming majority of American Jews will
lose their Jewishness. It is also unlikely that the vast numbers of
the non-Orthodox community will move into Orthodoxy in the
relatively near future." Rabbi David Berger replied "I
confess that I would not look forward to such a
disappearance....The Jewish loyalties and observances of
non-Orthodox Jews are decidedly better than nothing....The only
weakening of Conservatism and Reform for which Orthodoxy can
legitimately hope would come through conversion to Orthodoxy. No
such development appears imminent in statistically significant
numbers." The message of other rabbis rings a similar note; no
rabbis profiled in the symposium believed that most non-Orthodox
Jews would ever convert to Orthodoxy. Thus Orthodoxy should work
together on some issues with non-Orthodox Judaism, and it is far
better for Jews to be members of non-Orthodox Judaism than to
assimilate and not be religious Jews at all.

A small number of modern Orthodox rabbis cooperate with
non-Orthodox rabbis on a regular basis through smaller
organizations such as CLAL (The National
Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership) and the New York Board of Rabbis.

Some American Modern Orthodox rabbis have recently created a new
modern Orthodox advocacy group, Edah, which includes
members of the Rabbinical Council of
America. Edah's mission statement says: "The Vision of Edah is
an Orthodox Jewish community in which we, as members, leaders, and
institutions....reach out to and interact with Jews of all the
movements as well as non -affiliated Jews as an expression of the
wholeness of, and in an effort to strengthen, the entire Jewish
people."

Conservative
views

Conservative Judaism holds that
Orthodox Judaism is a valid and legitimate form of normative
rabbinic Judaism; it respects the validity of its rabbis.
Conservative Judaism holds that both Reform and Reconstructionist
Judaism have made major and unjustifiable breaks with historic
Judaism, both by their rejection of Jewish law and tradition as normative, and by
their unilateral acts in creating a separate definition of Jewishness (i.e. the latter movement's
acceptance of patrilineal descent as an additional way of defining
Jewishness.) Despite this disagreement, Conservative Judaism
respects the right of Reform and Reconstructionist Jews to
interpret Judaism in their own way. Thus the Conservative movement
recognizes the right of Jews to form such denominations, and
recognizes their clergy as rabbis, but does not generally accept
their decisions as valid. Thus, for example, the Conservative
movement typically does not accept Reform converts to Judaism whose
conversions did not meet the requirements of Jewish law as being
Jews.

The Conservative movement, while respecting the validity of
Orthodox Rabbis, believes that Orthodoxy has deviated from
historical Judaism through an insistence on the halachic principle of
binding legal precedent, in particular with respect to relatively
recent codifications of Jewish law. A prominent Conservative
spokesman has written:

Reform has asserted the right of interpretation but it rejected
the authority of legal tradition. Orthodoxy has clung fast to the
principle of authority, but has in our own and recent generations
rejected the right to any but minor interpretations. The
Conservative view is that both are necessary for a living Judaism.
Accordingly, Conservative Judaism holds itself bound by the Jewish
legal tradition, but asserts the right of its rabbinical body,
acting as a whole, to interpret and to apply Jewish law.

(Mordecai
WaxmanTradition and Change: The Development of
Conservative Judaism)

The Conservative movement, however, has clashed with Orthodoxy
over its refusal to recognize the Conservative and Reform movements
as legitimate, and in February 1997 Rabbi Ismar Schorsch, the Chancellor of the
Jewish Theological Seminary, claimed that Orthodox organizations in
Israel politically discriminate against non-Orthodox Jews, and
called on Reform and Conservative Jews, as well as the Jewish
Federations throughout the United States, to stop funding Orthodox
organizations and institutions that disagree with the Conservative
view of pluralism. Several weeks later, at the movement's annual
Rabbinical Assembly conference in Boston, he called for the
disintegration of Israel's chief rabbinate and its network of
courts. [2]

Reform
views

Reform
Judaism espouses the notion of religious pluralism; it believes
that most Jewish denominations (including Orthodox groups and the
Conservative movement) are valid expressions of Judaism.
Historically, however, the Reform view of Orthodox Judaism had been
highly negative. Reform began as a rejection of Orthodox Judaism,
and early battles between Reform and Orthodox groups in Germany for
control of communal leadership were fierce. Reform viewed Orthodoxy
as overly focused on tradition and literal interpretation of
scripture that conflicted with modern science. Relations with the
Conservative movement are much more cordial (although the two split
due to such affairs as the Treyf (that is, Nonkosher)
Banquet), and Conservative and Reform leaders co-operate on
many areas of mutual concern.

Humanistic
views

Humanistic Judaism views other forms
of Judaism as valid from a traditional point of view, but itself
emphasizes Jewish culture and history - rather than belief in God -
as the sources of Jewish identity.

Karaite
views

Karaite
Judaism does not recognize the Oral Law as a divine
authority, maintaining that the Written Torah, and the subsequent
prophets which God sent to Israel, whose writings are recorded in
the Tanakh, are the only
suitable sources for deriving halakha, which Karaite Judaism maintains, must
not deviate from the plain meaning of the Hebrew Bible. Rabbinic
laws which either allow Jews something the Torah forbids, or
releases Jews from a commandment the Torah requires, are seen as a
break with the Torah, and transgression of Divine Law. An example
being the white tzitzit
donned by Rabbinic Jews, which is absent of tekhelet. This is regarded as a violation of
the Torah, which requires that tzitzit be made with tekhelet. The
tzitzit worn by some in the rabbinic community, which does have
tekhelet, is also seen as a violation of the Torah, because
according to the Talmud, a
tekhelet string must be made of wool, and the white strings from
linen, making the tzitzit shatnez. Karaite Jews also maintain that
Rabbinic Jews are not observing Jewish holy days on their correct
date, because the dates are fixed according to the pre-calculated
Hillel II calendar,
instead of beginning each month with the sighting of the New Moon
from the horizon of Israel, and starting the year during the month
when the barley reaches the stage of Aviv in the land of Israel.
However, despite Rabbinic Judaism deviating from the plain meaning
of the Torah, Karaite Jews recognize Rabbinic Jews who have
unbroken patrilineal Jewish descent, as Jewish, and eligible to
join Karaite Judaism without a conversion.

Samuel
G. FreedmanJew vs. Jew: The struggle for the soul of
American Jewry New York, Simon & Schuster, 2000

Gurock,
Jeffrey S. "From Fluidity to Rigidity: The Religious Worlds of
Conservative and Orthodox Jews in Twentieth Century America,"
David W. Belin Lecture in American Jewish Affairs,
University of Michigan, 2000.

________. “Scholars and Friends: Rabbi Jehiel Jacob Weinberg and Professor Samuel
Atlas,” in The Torah u-Madda Journal v.7 (1997):105-21.
See also "Facing the Truths of History" by Jacob Schachter [3] on the public
disclosure of the relationship between these major Orthodox and
Reform figures.